Back to the Roots? The War in Ukraine and Grand Theories in International Relations

In the wake of the Cold War’s conclusion, grand theories faded out of scholarly debates on International Relations. A more eclectic attitude took hold of the discipline—the celebration of mid-level theories that hybridized themes and variables from different theoretical traditions, shedding light on specific phenomena. History had ended, and so had the clashes between different views as to what its basic mechanisms were. This chapter asks whether the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which has done so much to dispel the last remains of the post-Cold War environment, is fostering a return of grand theoretical approaches to IR. More specifically, we want to understand if there is a consistent realignment of authors along paradigmatic fault lines, and what patterns form from the collision and coalition of grand theories.